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JAPAN
Jun 9, 2000

Kyushu area hit by morning earthquake

A fairly strong earthquake hit Kyushu, western Shikoku and the southwestern tip of Honshu at around 9:32 a.m. Thursday, the Meteorological Agency said.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jun 9, 2000

Twang with a twist strolls into Tokyo

The early days of country music are a catalog of demon yodelers, drunken banjo pickers and dreamy cowboy poets. It is difficult to find any hint of this raw beginning in country's current offerings. Nashville tends to look toward the Top 40 rather than its own twisted past for inspiration; the Dixie...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2000

Obuchi able to talk in hospital: widow

The widow of late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said her husband was able to express himself just after he was admitted to a Tokyo hospital in April, according to the latest edition of the monthly magazine Bungei Shunju, due out today.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2000

JCCI chair Inaba to quit in July '01

Kosaku Inaba, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, officially announced Thursday that he intends to step down in July 2001.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2000

Woman's organs unsuitable for transplant by the time brain-death declared

After two botched tests, doctors at Fujita Health University Hospital in Toyoake, Aichi Prefecture, on Wednesday finally declared a patient legally brain dead but were unable to use any of the organs for transplant.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2000

Asian leaders discuss future of the region at symposium

A symposium on the future of Asia got under way Thursday in Tokyo with prominent leaders from East and Southeast Asia participating in the discussions.
COMMUNITY
Jun 9, 2000

Getting in touch with your animal nature

I did it. Finally dipped into dobutsu uranai (animal fortunetelling), the Japanese fengshui of human relationships. For the past year I've endured the discomfort of having acquaintances whisper across the table at lunch: "I know what you are, you're a monkey. The way you slurp your noodles like that?...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2000

Cultist 'glad' to help Asahara by releasing sarin

A former Aum Shinrikyo member who was 17 when she was involved in the 1994 sarin gas attack on an anti-Aum lawyer testified in court Thursday that at the time she was "glad" she could help cult leader Shoko Asahara.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2000

Japan signals willingness to help Plan Colombia

After months of foot-dragging, Japan appears willing to help Colombia pay for its ambitious, multibillion-dollar plan to crack down on drugs, achieve peace with guerrillas and rebuild its economy.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2000

Tiles suggest Todaiji precursor

OSAKA — Researchers have recently discovered fragments of roof tiles within the grounds of Todaiji Temple in Nara that suggest the existence of another temple dating back to the early eighth century.
COMMENTARY
Jun 9, 2000

Mori lands in hot water again

Gaffe-prone Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori put his foot in his mouth again, plunging his Cabinet's popularity ratings to record lows just as Japan is gearing up for a June 25 general election.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Exports help boost auto parts makers' sales 4.5%

Auto parts makers' combined sales rose 4.5 percent to 9.768 trillion yen on a consolidated basis in the 1999 business year, the Japan Auto Parts Association said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Brain-dead woman set to be eighth organ donor

A woman in her 60s hospitalized in Aichi Prefecture was declared legally brain-dead Wednesday, paving the way for the nation's eighth series of organ transplants from a brain-dead donor.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Police search office of 'broker' suspected of swindling millions

OSAKA — Police searched the offices of a self-styled investment advisory firm Wednesday over allegations that it solicited money for stock investments without a broker's license, investigation sources said.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Sogo wants more debt forgiven

Sogo Co., a financially troubled department store chain, said Wednesday that it will ask its main creditor bank, the Industrial Bank of Japan, to waive 9.2 billion yen more debt than initially planned to bring the sum to 189.3 billion yen.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Politicians get 3.42 million yen for two days

House of Representatives lawmakers who have just given up their seats will be paid 6.31 million yen Thursday in salary and bonuses — some 3.42 million yen of which was for the two days' work before the chamber was dissolved — officials of its secretariat said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Poll to pit Young Turks against old nepotism

Minoru Fujimoto, 31, has wavy, dyed brown hair. He is one of the new breed of "smiling" Japanese Communist Party members, whose appearance may surprise longtime party supporters who are used to more traditional-looking candidates.
COMMUNITY
Jun 8, 2000

Pageants losing face with public

Mari Nishihama, 20, a native of Oshima, an island located 100 km south of Tokyo, had always lived a peaceful, if somewhat uneventful, life in the small tourist resort town. But all that suddenly changed last fall, when town celebrities voted the local bank clerk Miss Oshima 2000.
COMMUNITY
Jun 8, 2000

A mouthful of Crazy English goes down very well in Japan

Li Yang seems an unlikely proselytizer for internationalism through English language study. Not only is he not a native speaker of English, but prior to last week he had never even set foot outside of mainland China.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Japan's faith rising in Indian software

Isamu Nitta, a former Japanese diplomat in Sri Lanka and the United States, clearly enjoys setting out a map of the world and pointing out where Japanese strategic interests lie.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Nissho Iwai sees profits quintupling in five years

Restructuring trading house Nissho Iwai Corp. is hoping to increase its annual group pretax profit to 100 billion yen in five years, more than a fivefold increase from the 18.2 billion yen it registered in fiscal 1999, company sources said Wednesday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 8, 2000

Epic upset by Warriors still greatest in NBA history

It's been 25 years now but I remember it like it was yesterday.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Foreign exchange reserves at record high $341 billion

Japan's foreign exchange reserves grew to a record $341.14 billion at the end of May from the previous month, topping the old record of $338.58 billion set in April, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan